Josh Heupel recalls time as Oklahoma quarterback, relationship with former teammates

On3 imageby:Justin Rudolph•06/02/23

With the Oklahoma Sooners heading to the SEC next year, Tennessee Volunteers head coach Josh Heupel has the opportunity to face off against his college alma mater.

At the SEC spring meeting, Heupel was asked about his former Oklahoma teammates, his relationship with them to this day, and what type of quarterback he was.

“Oh, that’s way too far in the rearview mirror for me to be able to talk about. Nah, I played with a lot of great teammates. (I) was part of a program that was rebounding at that time,” said Heupel. “Before we got there, we hadn’t been to a bowl game for five years. And a lot of my teammates got a chance to see over last fall, actually; had a bunch from that came out to different games in Knoxville, and fewer of them down to the Orange Bowl too. So, at the end of the day, I had a lot of great players I played with. I was fortunate enough to be smart enough to find a way to score enough points to win some ball games.”

Heupel played a significant role in resurrecting the Sooners program. He would leave Oklahoma racking up a ridiculous number of awards, especially in 2000. Heupel earned the AP College Football Player of the Year, Quarterback of the Year, Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, a consensus all-American, and was a BCS national champion, just to name a few accolades.

Heupel may not speak highly of himself from his days as the Oklahoma quarterback, but the awards that he won while a Sooner speak volumes to the quality of player he was.

Heupel also addressed a much more serious topic in the recent issues with gambling happening in college sports recently. NCAA rules prohibit athletes, coaches, and staff from betting on amateur, collegiate and professional sports that the NCAA oversees a championship in. The strict guideline has led to a fair share of conflict.

In May, Alabama fired its baseball head coach over gambling allegations connected to the program. Now, Iowa is being investigated for similar accusations. After a two-hour presentation on the controversial subject at SEC Spring Meetings, Heupel gave the press his thoughts.

“Everyone in college sports, college football, has to continue to find a way to put their arms around the situation and make sure we try to navigate it in a really, really good way,” Heupel said.

On3’s Grant Grubbs contributed to this story